I, Sirius Black, Formally Declare War on the Poltergeist

Prologue

Uncle Alphard glanced forlornly at the open door of the drawing room. Just outside and down the stairs, all of his siblings and in-laws were no doubt conversing about the latest misdoings of the muggleborn community. It was for this reason that the man had taken to looking after the younger members of the family, quite frankly the only ones whose company he enjoyed.

Andromeda had taken a similar view and sat on the loveseat with a book. Uncle Alphard didn't inquire as to the title, gathering the less any of the family knew about it the better. Her dark curls were long and cast over her face as she curled up. She had heavy lidded eyes like her older sister Bellatrix, but they betrayed a kindness Bella didn't know of.

Narcissa, Andromeda's younger by four years, sat playing a variation of gobstones Regulus had come up with several years prior. Her loose, blonde curls were tied back in a manner that her mother would surely not approve of. Druella was a proud woman, and the proper upkeep of her three daughters' hair was something that always resulted in back and forth struggle between them. Narcissa was the primary offender at the moment, not remembering to fix it before presenting herself to her mother, something Andromeda always remembered to do.

Sirius had quite the same attitude about everything as Narcissa did about her hair. One could tell just by looking at him that he had a mischievous air. Though prideful like his mother, his pride was often misplaced and viewed as stubbornness.

Most surprisingly, in Uncle Alphard's opinion, was Sirius' tendency to be a thinker. One wouldn't guess it, given his attitude, but Uncle Alphard saw it in the way he would question his mother about every little thing about them. Sometimes, he had caught Sirius looking out the front window at a particular boy who lived a few houses down from them. Though Uncle Alphard had never asked, he had a strong suspicion Sirius had at one time tried to be friends with the boy before no doubt getting roughly dragged inside by a most likely livid Walburga.

At the moment, he sat happily beating both Narcissa and Regulus at their improvised game of gobstones. Regulus, two years younger than Sirius, looked very alike to his brother. He was slightly shorter and had a thinner face, but only time would tell if that would remain. His lip was scrunched up in annoyance at the increasing gap between his and Sirius' scores.

Uncle Alphard would just observe them, it was very seldom that they got that. In Orion Black's household, Sirius and Regulus scarcely had enough time for a single game of gobstones or chess. They were always being dragged to events in the evening, and Walburga insisted on them focusing on their studies in the morning and some of the afternoon. Uncle Alphard would know, he used to tutor them. It wasn't long before Walburga decided she wanted better for her sons and hired Helena, a pureblood witch very learned in all-around education.

Uncle Alphard always thought it was amusing, given such a prejudice against muggles and muggleborns, that the tutors always had to teach things that really were muggle subjects. Not that they didn't have applications in the wizarding world. For example transfiguration, or at least the theory, really had a basis in maths. Sirius was fond of the sciences, last Uncle Alphard checked, though when Helena arrived back tomorrow morning he would have to inquire as to whether that was still the case.

All of a sudden, there were loud shouts and slamming of doors from downstairs, causing Uncle Alphard to rise from his chair. Andromeda glanced up at the door and upon hearing someone thumping up the stairs, briskly closed her book and tucked it into a deep pocket of her dark green robes.

Narcissa widened her eyes at the commotion and quickly untied the ribbon from her hair, allowing the loose curls down around her face, not noticing the evident frizz that had taken to the top of her head. Even Sirius, though he rolled his eyes at Regulus' flattening of his hair and smoothing of his robes, bothered to fasten his own. Andromeda had just finished hastily fastening the last of her clasps over the plain white dress she wore as Bellatrix trumped into the room, black boots laced up high. Everyone in the room visibly relaxed. Uncle Alphard was about to sit back down when Cygnus and Druella entered behind Bellatrix, evidently unhappy.